Road toll statistics reveal the most dangerous day for drivers

Drivers are more likely to die in road crashes on one day of the week than any other, and one gender is three times more at risk than the other. Brisbane and national road crash data reveals the road toll danger zones.

BRISBANE road crashes have killed 22 people in a year, with the national death toll to January totalling 1166.

Over the past five comparison years, 1209 people have died on Queensland roads: January 2015, 221 deaths; January 2016, 252 deaths; January 2017, 249 deaths; January 2018, 241 deaths; and January 2019, 246 deaths.

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New national data shows men are three times more likely to die on Australian roads, outnumbering women 854 to 291.

The number of female deaths is down 13 per cent on the previous year.

Nationally, fatal crashes are more likely to happen on a Sunday than any other day of the week and most fatal crashes happen during the day, 658 compared with 425 at night.

A total of 204 people were killed on a Sunday in road accidents, while 201 died on a Saturday, and 178 on a Friday, 157 on a Monday, 143 on Thursday, 142 on Wednesday and 141 on Tuesday.

In Queensland, Sunday was also the most dangerous, with 46 people killed in car crashes in the year to the end of January. But Monday was the next most deadly, with 43 people killed. The lowest level of fatalities in Queensland was on a Wednesday, with 22 people killed.

Road crash statistics show only part of the picture, experts say. Picture: Marc Robertson

Road deaths per 100,000 population are down to 4.7 fatalities, a 6.5 per cent decrease on the previous year, the Federal Government’s Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics figures show.

But Centre for Automotive Safety Research director Jeremy Woolley said the statistics did not paint the full picture.

“There’s no indication of serious injuries from road accidents,” Dr Woolley said.

“What we do know is that very conservatively it is estimated that 36,000 people a year are admitted to hospital (due to road accident injury), and some databases put that figure higher. We are two years off having a national database that will provide an accurate snapshot.”

The Federal Government’s National Road Safety Action Plan 2018-2020 defines the need for a database as a “critical action”. A pilot project is underway.

Dr Woolley said the government “could do much more” to improve road safety.

“They need to take more accountability about the performance of the nation’s roads,” he said. “Safety should be the preliminary focus of any new road project. The problem is that everyone assumes safety is number one, but no one manages it.

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“And they should be accelerating the introduction of lifesaving technology in cars, such as collision avoidance systems.”

Almost one in five deaths were passengers and 169 crashes involved the death of a pedestrian.

The latest Federal Government statistics show the nation’s road toll spiked in January, up 17 per cent on the same time last year.

Queensland recorded 16 deaths in January alone, one more than the same time last year.